We often hear how practice makes perfect to the point of it being a cliché but the importance of constant practice cannot be denied. Being a founder is not an ordinary feat and if you want to succeed, you really have to put in the hard work and have to be extraordinary. If you have to practice your pitch a hundred times to get it right and actually win at competitions or win an investor’s approval, then that is exactly what you should be doing. If you have to literally talk to your potential customers and conduct in-depth research then that is what you will do to get to know them better. That is, if you want to ensure the success of your company. Otherwise, you could just go lazy and make assumptions about who your market is and watch as your company drifts away to a state of oblivion. This episode is about embracing extraordinary effort to achieve enormous success in your business.
Jiwon Hong is the Co-founder and CEO of YesPlz, Inc. dubbed as the AI for fashion search whose mission is to make online shopping more relevant. Through YesPlz, Jiwon built a visual filter that’s fueled by AI to make searching for fashion online in tune with buyers’ style and preferences. They have a proprietary machine-learning algorithm which helps customers find the exact style that they are looking for from various online shopping destinations and sources. Previously, Jiwon founded 50ml which is a marketplace online for gourmet condiments allowing local food artisans to connect with everyday consumers.
Jiwon is originally from Korea who came to the US 6 years ago.
In this Episode:
- YesPlz as a small company which just recently launched its beta
- Jiwon’s passionate and energetic pitch at the Watermark Conference and competition
- The pitch process and how Jiwon trained to tell her story in a concise but easily relatable manner
- How constant practice and the passage of time makes pitching easier to win
- How a support group can be a big influence in helping you practice a good number of times
- How to pitch for partners, customers, and funding and how to practice until it feels natural
- YesPlz company description and what it’s doing in the marketplace
- How using YezPlz will allow users to find the overall look they want in seconds instead of browsing through thousands of fashion websites
- Jiwon’s future plans to expand to men’s fashion, accessories, shoes, kitchenware, etc.
- The extreme importance of user research to have an in-depth knowledge of your potential customers
- How user research will help shift the focus from the product to the customers and what they need which is really more important
- How Jiwon is currently working with business partners for the development of a B2B optimized product
Connect with Jiwon Hong!
Website
